Saturday, February 17, 2007

Animation School- Kali is a Good Girl

She copies artists she likes to find out what techniques they do and how they do them.And she studies more than just one style, because only copying one style is a sin.

I gave her some paints because I saw her marker pictures and thought to myself "Hmm, I bet she'd be a good painter."

So she took the paints and went right to it like a jackrabbit chasing a doodlebug in fairy shooting season.First she did some Mel Crawford studies. Very cartoony stuff.

Then she copied a Rojankovsky baboon, that is in a different, more elaborate, hairier style.Look how great it is! I can't stop staring at this monkey.If she keeps at this, she will surely be a star and develop her own style one day.

If you are an eager young student of cartoons, do like Kali does. Copy and absorb.Learn real things from the pros first then later worry about your own style. Here's hers so far.I bet you can't tell a girl did it. Hwa hwa!

Charles Dickens described Eddie to Kali and she channeled Rojankovsy to help her paint the perfect cartoonist. Grow up and be him one day.

If you wanna learn fast, be a good girl like Kali and copy the masters!And don't forget your Preston Blair lessons!

Wooow!!! Kali's great! It's so much fun to look at these paintings. My favorite subtext in a painting is fun. No matter what the subject is, it could just be a banana lying on a table, if the picture reminds us how wonderful it is to be alive and thinking and living in this moment then the picture is a treasure. Kali's on the scent of painting fun and that's wonderful!

I love that Eddie painting. She does have a feel for this kind of vibrant joyful cuteness. And the ear-hairs are excellent.

It's exciting watching Kali's progress... it's amazing what can be achieved once you have a logical grasp of how to improve... by copying/studying artists you aspire to. It's such a simple thing but so many in our egomaniacal 'express yourself' culture miss out from the lack of useful study like this. It's like a warp-drive skill accelerator. the progress is fast and tangible.

He's a social realist painter. An outsider during the abstract movement, and an early hero in my art career. Jack's paintings are "cartoonish" in their presentation of people. Squat, fat, and loathsome. Very satirical of politicians, cops, art critics, celebrity and anything else which involves too much ego. He uses a LOT of paint, getting into garish. I got the chance to meet him in the mid 1990s (by that time Jack was 80 years old, but still full of piss and vinegar). It was a good thing too, because I was getting attacked on all ends for not respecting post-post modernism bullshit. He gave me some hope!

IMHO, I would suggest moving to oil paints as soon as you feel comfortable with the brushes and application techniques. With your marker style of mixing color on the canvas (an amazing feat), oil seems like a good direction. It doesn't dry out as fast as arcylic and mixes sooooo much better on the canvas. Of course there is the issue of costs.

Check out http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/hannabarbera/smf/theater.jsp under the icon of Pebbles is a Huckleberry Hound Cartoon called "Bird House Blues" which you probably know has Art Lozzi backgrounds in the toon.